This one passes the test

SCHOOL’S out this week for half a million Irish national school pupils — but those days ended some time ago for Waterville’s old NS, which has been on holliers since.

Taken the private holiday home route decades ago, and then used by a British couple as a full-time home from around 1980, it is a one-off with period, bookish roots and has graduated with some style and aplomb.

Set near St Michael’s church and in the town, it has been made over to become a 2,500 sq ft home, well-finished an adapted, full of light and comfort (a gas-fired Aga bellows out heat in the kitchen) and it has westerly sea views to boot.

In very good overall and decorative order, it has three bedrooms, all of them en suite, with one novel layout: one of the two upper floor bedrooms has a private staircase down to its ground floor en suite.

Selling agents for the Old School House are Savills Cork and Dublin office, and they give it a guide of €460,000, pitched to reflect Waterville’s rather niche, up-market appeal to the well-heeled (think great golf, beaches, scenery, good food).

Agent Catherine McAuliffe says of the pre-1900s built old school conversion “it has great period character throughout the house, it is done really, really well with a French feel to the sheltering sun-room, which functions like a courtyard.”

That 20’ by 17’ sun-room/garden room opens to the kitchen, the hall, and to the ground floor main en suite bedroom, while adding to the airiness is a 15’ high extended ceiling height in the main 21’ by 19’ living room, which has the proportions of its former classroom life.

The hall, with staircase, functions as another room, with a study and guest WC off, and the kitchen is going to have real appeal for a serious chef (well, the knives on a wall magnet show some seriousness of purpose) and worktop units are granite.

Apart from the passive solar gain of the sun room, there’s central heating, plus a gas Aga, and there’s a detached garage to the rear of the house/old school.

Waterville has golf, walks, angling, the Skelligs and more on its door, and is effectively the half-way point out the Ring of Kerry from Killarney, about 50 miles distant, and it is 100 miles from Cork, and 240 from Dublin.